HR 5034

For years the distributors of alcoholic beverages have sought to create and maintain a monopoly over sales of beer, wine and spirits in the US, and thus have been opponents of any effort to allow direct shipment of products to consumers. They like to wave the "protect the kids" banner when doing this, claiming that such shipments would allow children to purchase alcohol over the Internet.

Here's a FACT: shippers (such as FedEx) always require an adult's signature when delivering alcoholic beverages.

The distributors, their lobbyists and every member of Congress know this, but are hoping you don't. In short, they want you to be both ignorant and gullible and would love to take advantage of it.

Their latest gambit is HR 5034, hearings for which were not announced in advance, although lobbyists for the distributors somehow knew about it (magic?) and showed up in order to advance their agenda. This bill would make it more difficult for wineries and consumers to challenge state laws prohibiting direct shipments.

Contact your representative. It's EASY. Just follow this link (you'll need your full ZIP-9; if you don't know that, get it here).

A Wine Spectator article about the bill can be found here.

I'll close with a question: will it ever occur to the members of Congress that our low opinion of them will never change as long as they keep behaving like whores?